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SPARTAN-II Program (Earth-5875)
The SPARTAN-II Program, originally titled ORION II Project, was the first proper iteration of the SPARTAN Programs, a classified UNSC project that sought to create biologically enhanced super soldiers to combat the threat of the Insurrectionists during the growing perils of the Secession in the early 2500s. Envisioned by Dr. Catherine Halsey as the second generation of the older ORION Project, the SPARTAN-II Program was the first project to incorporate advanced exoskeleton technology to enhance the already superior strength, intelligence and overall skills of its participants. History Conception After the deactivation of the ORION Project in 2506, combating the Insurrectionists during the Secession became a costly and deadly threat for the UNSC to handle and manage. The Insurrectionists had reorganized themselves yet again following Operation TREBUCHET, which led to bigger military engagements across the human colonies. In 2510, the Office of Naval Intelligence started reevaluating the Carver Findings, which had previously predicted that the instability of the Outer Colonies would certainly lead to secessionand civil war. The report by Professor Elias Carver predicted that, unless drastic measures were taken to quell the secessionist attempts, a major rebellion would escalate among the Outer and Inner Colonies, leading to the downfall of the Unified Earth Government and the UNSC. These claims were near the same to the prevision by ONI. Meanwhile, the then-young Dr. Catherine Halsey emerged with a thesis that added to the Carver Findings, concluding the future would be even bleaker, with a prevision of thirty year war and five billion casualties, which could led to the downfall of humanity. She then presented these results to ONI Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth, who revealed he came to the same conclusions that she did. Working to prevent this, Halsey started to work for the Office of Naval Intelligence. Creation Titled ORION II Project, it was started by Halsey in 2511, who established it as the best solution to safeguard humanity from the dangers of the Secession through UEG space. Not only that, but Halsey developed various different objectives with her project; both to quell the insurgency during its infancy without widespread military and civilian casualties as well as to reduce the cost of conventional pacification for the UNSC. notes about the SPARTAN-II Program on her diary.]] Her program severely deviated from the ORION Project. Among these changes, was the incredibly controversial nature of the project's candidates, who were selected by a very strict and select gene-pool and fit an age criteria, including the pre-determined mental and physical attributes sought by Halsey. Upon the beginning of their service, they would be instilled with high military values and the intricacies of war, which could not be taught to the Marines and sailors the UNSC had been enlisting. All of these setbacks led the program to seek for children, who would be raised and shaped by war from a young age. Duo to the controversial nature of using children and the importance it held to the greater Secession conflict, the ORION II Project became the most secretive program that the UNSC ever saw. The second biggest change was the choice to equip its candidates with an advanced exoskeleton which would not only keep its user safer, but also much stronger to combat enemies. This new armor came with the drawback of only enhanced individuals being able to use it, and thus turning them in guinea pigs. After being disatisfied with the name ORION II Project, she renamed the program according to her own preference and to distance itself from the original failed project, deciding to name it the SPARTAN-II Program, named after the ancient Spartans of Greece. Among the scrapped names she considered were [[Wikipedia:Praetorian Guard|'Praetorians']], [[Wikipedia:Landsknecht|'Landsknecht']], [[Wikipedia:Immortals (Achaemenid Empire)|'Immortals']], [[Wikipedia:Minutemen|'Minutemen']], [[Wikipedia:Titan (mythology)|'Titans']], Argonauts, Odysseus, Olympians, Zulu, Kronos, Promethean, Nemesis, Daedalus, Heracles, Viking, and Hyperion. beig kidnaped from his home.]] Despite the unethical means for the creation of the soldiers and the enormous budgetary risk placed in the UNSC, the project was accepted by the Office of Naval Intelligence. The funding only allowed for the inclusion of 300 children. By 2517, Halsey had already located 150 candidates after studying their DNA, which had been gathered at the vaccination programs conducted through the colonies by the CAA, but by the time the funding had already severely decreased, leading to the allowance of 75 children. In the same year, 75 children from both sexes had been kidnapped by the Office of Naval Intelligence and replaced with clones in order to ensure the secrecy of the project. These colones later died horrible deaths due to medical complications. The use of clones was regarded as the most controversial among all other unethical decisions taken in the program, which severely angered Admiral Margaret Paragonsky, CINCONI of the Office of Naval Intelligence, once the information regarding the clones was leaked to the rest of ONI. Paragonsky believed that the use of clones was unecessary and made the process even more painful to the families of the kidnaped children, stating that Halsey only used them in order to ease her conscience and do not embrace the actions of what she had done. Training .]] After their capture, the SPARTAN-II children were taken to Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex, on Reach, to train under Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez and the Auton Déjà, both who aided Dr. Halsey during the process. The names of the SPARTANs became a mixture of their first names and designation number. During the first years of their training, the SPARTAN-IIs endured the harshest of environments and training to become ultimate soldiers, which was complemented with advanced education, including mathematics, science, history, philosophy, and military tactics. Despite the brutality of the training, Mendez would always encourage honor, respect and discipline among the SPARTANs, teaching them multiple kill techniques, the difference between right and wrong, as well as sociopolitical stances on the conflict. John-117 rose to become the most prominent candidate and the overall eader of the SPARTANs. Mendez continued their training until 2525, where they underwent the SPARTAN-II Enhancement Program. The procedure killed 30 of the children, leaving twelve others crippled. Those who were crippled or deformed by the enhancements went to join the Office of Naval Intelligence, while two of the 33 who survived the enhancement with no side effects commited suicide after encountering their clones. The bodies of the deceased SPARTAN-IIs were cryogenically frozen and sent towards a star. First Contact War .]] With the start of the First Contact War, the initial purpose of the SPARTAN-II Program was changed from that of fighting Insurrectionists to facing the massive power of the Covenant, leading to their training be rapidly accelerated for the final phase: Project MJOLNIR, a powered exoskeleton that made the SPARTANs humanity's first line of defense against the alien alliance. Despite the Covenant's superiority, the SPARTANs proved to be incredibly effective against them, delaying attacks, destroying entire armadas, and saving numerous human lives against the empire. In 2547, ONI unveiled the SPARTAN-II Program to the general public to give hope to the civilian population and boost the morale of UNSC troops. The Covenant also noticed the SPARTANs, both with fear and respect, which earned them the moniker of "Demons". As the war waged on, most SPARTAN-IIs started to die during many assignments against the Covenant, but as their victories against the alien alliance was the main propaganda seller of the UNSC, the Office of Naval Intelligence issued Directive 930, where it was stated all SPARTANs killed in action (KIA), were to be declared missing in action (MIA), or wounded in action (WIA), which would help retain the illusion that SPARTANs were invincible. By August 27th, 2552, 25 of the last remaining SPARTANs, except for Grey Team, were assigned to NAVSPECWEAP and recalled to Reach in order to start Operation RED FLAG, an ultra secret mission that HIGHCOM believed would bring an end to the First Contact War. The SPARTANs would command a Covenant ship, locate High Charity, and return with one of the hegemony's Hierarchs to force a ceasefire. The Auton synthetic Cortana would serve with John-117 and serve as the hacker of the strike force. during the Battle of Havana.]] The operation was cancelled, however, with the arrival of the Covenant on Reach, leading to the Fall of Reach, leading to the deaths of most SPARTAN-IIs. Some were able to hide at Castle Base, while two, John-117 and Linda-058, were able to escape aboard the [[UNSC Pillar of Autumn (Earth-5875)|UNSC Pillar of Autumn]], while Linda herself was placed in cryosleep after sustaining fatal injuries by plasma after a Covenant attack on Gamma Station. The escape of the Autumn led its crew to Installation 04, leading to a massive battle between the UNSC and the Covenant which ended with John-117 and Cortana destroying the ring to prevent the spread of the ancient species known as the xenomorphs. After the conflict, its survivors returned to Reach and reunited with the surviving SPARTANs, where they were able to steal a Covenant ship and return to Earth. These SPARTANs would play key roles during the Battle of Earth, the Battle of Installation 05, the Battle of Onyx, and the Battle of Installation 00, ending with John-117 eliminating the Prophet of Truth alongside Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and the xenomorphs, destroying the Covenant for good and ending the war. At the end of the conflict, he and Cortana ended lost in space on the remains of the [[UNSC Forward Unto Dawn (Earth-5875)|UNSC Forward Unto Dawn]], being declared missing in action and not being seen until 2561. Post-war during one of their newer operations.]] By the end of the end of the war, only fifteen SPARTAN-IIs survived: John-117, Fred-104, Kelly-087, Linda-058, Douglas-042, Jerome-092, Alice-130, Naomi-010, Leon-011, Robert-025, August-099, Randall-037, Otto-031, Victor-101, Margaret-053, and Roma-143. Red Team (Douglas, Jerome, and Alice) spent most of the First Contact War in cryosleep aboard the [[UNSC Spirit of Fire (Earth-5875)|UNSC Spirit of Fire]], only being awakened in 2565, thirteen years after the end of the war. Black Team (Margaret, Otto, Roma, and Victor) were stranded in space and in cryosleep after an important operation in 2552, being found and recovered in early 2564 by the sangheili Fleetmaster Rojka 'Kaasan, who placed them under stasis until they were awakened weeks later. Naomi was transferred to the classified ONI unit Kilo-Five in 2553, where she continued to serve. Randall had been missing in action ever since 2532, and hid under the identity of "Randall Aiken" on the Outer colony Sedra, becoming a Colonel within the Sedran Colonial Guard. He participated in a secret mission to capture Alerian smugglers, where he sacrificed himself to save the operation's survivors. Omega Team (August, Robert, and Leon) were able to survive the war, but their current status is classified. The surviving SPARTAN-IIs joined the newly-founded N7 unit of the UNSC Navy alongside the surviving SPARTAN-IIIs and newly formed SPARTAN-IVs. Together with the IIIs, the IIs were responsible for training the IVs. during the Second Battle of Installation 00.]] In 2563, John-117 returned to action after being missing in action for ten years, only to stop the vex from attacking Earth, though at the cost of Cortana's life. He later reunited with Blue Team, and the group immediatly started to serve on new, classified operations. On September 1st, 2564, Black Team were awakened from their cryosleep, finding themselves amidst a massive battle between two sangheili factions, a jiralhanae pack, and Suraka's citizens, on Carrow. The SPARTAN-IIs aided the Suraka Militia to protect civilians from the jiralhanae and their Chieftain, Hekabe. After the battle, Gret Team would be repurposed by ONI to operate on Carrow. In October 2564, Blue Team attempted to stop the Created and the Reapers, who took over the inhabited portions of the Milky Way to enforce the Mantle, but they were unable to do so. In 2565, the UNSC Spirit of Fire was transported to Installation 00, and among its crew, Red Team. While attempting to restablish contact with the UNSC, Red Team and the crew battled against a jiralhanae-led Covenant splinter group, the Banished, and its leader, Atriox. Personnel Publicity on Biko.]] While the SPARTAN-II Program started as a secret project, its existance was unveiled to the public by the Office of Naval Intelligence in order to boost the morale of the UNSC and the UEG's citizens. However, the origins of the SPARTANs was still kept a secret. The CMB's Factbook unveils that all SPARTAN-IIs are "recruited from all corners of UNSCspace" and that "each of them is a highly decorated veteran with literal decades of combat experience", noticeably ommiting the ethically dubious nature of them as kidnaped children. John-117, who saved humanity from the Covenant and later the xenomorphs multiple times during the First Contact War, was given a legendary status as "The Master Chief", while ONI carefully constructed an elaborate origin story for the UNSC's "poster boy", one that involved multiple individuals under fake aliases claiming to have known him in the past. By 2551, many rumorous started to spread among the UNSC that the SPARTANs were kidnaped children, but the informations about its truth were still kept hidden, and by 2565, all details are still kept hidden. The journalist Ben Giraud was able to discover the truth in early 2564, leaking all of his discoveries in the Internet, although it was later covered and Giraud arrested. To names of the SPARTANs became a combination of their real first names and their candidate names. The identities and full names of the SPARTANs were erased from all military and civilian records by ONI, with only Dr. Catherine Halsey once holding the secret files that contained all of their names at Sword Base, Reach. However, with the Covenant's attack on the planet, all records were destroyed when the Fleet of Particular Justice glassed the planet. Within the UNSC Navy, the UNSC Marine Corps, and civilians, SPARTANs are known by their designated numbers, which is their name followed by a number. Psychology after a mission.]]SPARTAN-IIs are incredibly intelligent, skilled and resourceful, standing as independt thinkers per Dr. Halsey's intention on molding and making both the "perfect killers" and "perfect thinkers", persuading the candidates through "persuasion and acclimation", deeply opposing the intent behind the Office of Naval Intelligence's brainwashing process. Halsey believed the SPARTAN-IIs should be completely loyal, and that could only be achieved through the understanding of the situation and full embracing of the cause. Because of this, SPARTAN-IIs know of their role as tools and weapons to save the lives of those around them. Most of them do not hold grudges about their kidnaping as children and treatment as war machines, fully embracing their role as a necessity and something they were born to do. The SPARTAN-II Program training emphasize the SPARTAN-II dedicating to their duties and winning no matter what it takes. For a mission to be completed and succesful, a SPARTAN-II will ignore their own health, illnessess or mortality, leading them to become frustrated over not being allowed to join a mission. SPARTAN-IIs do not enjoy being placed at warships, prefering to fight on the ground. during the Battle of Circinus IV.]]SPARTAN-IIs treat one another as siblings and family, displaying massive solidarity and camaraderie both within their own units, as well as with all members of the program, which was ingrenated within their psychology ever since their first days of training. SPARTAN-IIs were taught not to display their emotions overtly, and instrad they rely on conveying subtle emotions through body language and gestures, which is only understood by other SPARTANs. Only few individuals, such as Dr. Halsey and Déjà, are capable of understanding their subtle signals. Because they perfectly understand one another, during combat they work in complete synergy, and outsiders describe their interactions in the battefield as almost "telepathic". SPARTAN-IIs have incredibly difficult of socializing with other, non-SPARTAN humans, and do so out of necessity and military respect. To most humans, SPARTAN-IIs are seen with both awe and revulsion duo to their reputation as quasi-"God" figures and imposing presence in any situation. The latter is only complemented by their superhuman speed, reflexes, and grace. Outsiders fear oven touching a SPARTAN-II out of fear, even if it only a hand shake. The species of the Covenant, particularly the sangheili, viewed SPARTAN-IIs as "Demons", a sign of both fear and respect for their combat capabilities. The sangheili still carry this respect more than ever with their new found alliance with humanity. Organization SPARTAN-IIs currently serve under UNSC Special Forces' unit N7. They formerly served under Naval Special Weapons, closely working with ONI Section Three. After graduating from their training, all SPARTAN-IIs were given the rank of Petty Officer, Second Class, with many of them rising much beyond that. The SPARTAN-II prefer to operate autonomously under teams of three to five. However, these numbers gradually vary between mission. The leader of a team will chose the SPARTANs best suited for mission in accordance to their talents. Through the First Contact War, however, many teams became dispersed, and some formations became establishments, while others did not. Each SPARTAN-II team is divided by color-based designations, with them being Blue, Red, Green, Grey, and Black Teams. Some teams would form smaller units, which they designated with Greek alphabet, such as Omega Team. Both Black and Grey Team were unchanced during the entirety of the war. Class I looking the profiles of the SPARTAN-II children.]]Class I comprises all SPARTAN-IIs kidnaped in 2517. From the 150 children targeted by Dr. Catherine Halsey, only 75 34 were sucesfully conscripted. Caleb Aagaard is the only candidate known to not be kidnaped. He would have been SPARTAN-095. Augmented *James-005† *Naomi-010 *Leon-011 *Daisy-023† *Robert-025 *Joshua-029† *Vihh-030† *Otto-031 *Samuel-034† *Randall-037† *Isaac-039† *Douglas-042 *Will-043† *Kurt-051† *Jorge-052† *Margaret-053 *Linda-058 *Maria-062† *Sheila-065† *Solomon-069† *Arthur-079† *Kelly-087 *Jerome-092 *Grace-093† *August-099 *Victor-101 *Fred-104 *John-117 *Joseph-122 (Unknown) *Oscar-129† *Alice-130 *Carris-137† *Cal-141† *Roma-143 Washouts , and attended by the surviving SPARTAN-II candidates.]] After failing on the SPARTAN-II Enhancement Program, twelve SPARTAN-IIs were discharged from the program as they became severely crippled or deformed. Most of them were given desk assignments to the Office of Naval Intelligence, such as Serin-019 and Soren-066. Dr. Halsey hoped that these SPARTANs would later be rehabilitated and perform their duties as soldiers. Officially, thirty SPARTAN-IIs died after failing to adapt to the enhancements. The cadavers remained in cold storage and were sent in towards the star Jericho. Discharged *Serin-019 *Soren-066 *Fhajad-084 *Musa-096 *Ralph-103 Class II Following the graduation of Class I's SPARTAN-IIs in 2525, Dr. Halsey started to devise a potential Class II, where she quickly found multiple problems, including the incredibly limited number of children that ran in synchrony with her age and genetic protocols and the lack of budget, duo to most of it going towards Project MJOLNIR. By 2531, most of Halsey's fund was diverted towards the top-secret SPARTAN-III Program and the failed attempts at retrieving and conducting experimentation on the xenomorph species. Class II was ultimately scrapped. Directive 930 With the wide reports of SPARTANs during battles, ONI made the SPARTAN-II Program public. Duo to their massive death tool during multiple operations against the Covenant, SPARTANs were only declared missing in action (MIA) as opposed to killed in action (KIA) in order to mask the growing gravity of the war, boosting the morale of soldiers and giving hope to civilians, leading to the popular saying "SPARTANs never die, they just go missing in action". Equipment MJOLNIR Armor .]]The MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor was created alongside the SPARTAN-II Program to supply its users with incredibly strength and protection, as the armors themselves are one of the most advanced pieces of human technology. The armor is equipped with tactical information, ranging from IFF tags, motion trackers and energy shielding readouts. Neural interface SPARTAN-IIs carry a customized neural interface that is implanted on their skulls following augmentation. This interface is able to supply them with neural links between their brains and the MJOLNIR armor, as well as aollowing the information on an Auton synthetic's Carbon 60 Riemann cycling-thought matrix to be passed down to the SPARTAN. This upgrade was only given to John-117, who would carry Cortana's information during Operation RED FLAG. SPARTAN-II Enhancement Program The SPARTAN-II Enhancement Program was the prime, and most dangerous, aspect of the SPARTAN-II Program, which saw the use of multiple surgeries and injections upon the then-teenaged SPARTAN-IIs. Only a handful of candidates survived, and out of the survivors, only a few recovered. Facilities The main installation of the SPARTAN-II Program was Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex, on Reach. A massive complex, it housed multiple facilities that became used by the SPARTANs. Their training was also carried at the nearby Highland Mountains, where the SPARTANs had classroom sessions with Déjà in the Naval Officers Academy. The colony Emerald Cove also served as a training ground for the SPARTANs. The medical facility ''Endurance'' served as the base for the SPARTAN-II Enhancement Program. Trivia *Art by Devarture *Art by The-Chronothaur Category:Earth-5875 Category:SPARTAN-IIs of Earth-5875 Category:SPARTANs of Earth-5875 Category:UNSC projects (Earth-5875) Category:UNSC Special Forces (Earth-5875) Category:Created by Draft227